Spirits in the Night
by galicianphantom
Summary: James Potter walks in on Sirius, and simultaneously walks in on his problems. Can he help his best friends before they destroy the Marauders? Rated for language mostly. Slash. Title from a Springsteen song!
1. Walking In

**Disclaimer:** Anything you recognise, I don't own.

**Author's Note:** My first fic, so reviews are appreciated! I like getting feedback and constructive criticism is always welcome!

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James Potter did not expect to get let out of detention early on Thursday night because Slughorn was in an unusually good mood. He did not expect Dumbledore to be walking in the halls in bright pink robes, and he did not expect Lily Evans to smile warmly at him as he climbed into the Gryffindor common room.

He certainly did not expect to open the door of his dormitory to find Sirius Black and Remus Lupin having sex on his bed.

After standing stupidly in the doorway for a few seconds, James recovered his wits and silently left the room as fast as he could, taking care to shut the door silently behind him and praying that he hadn't been seen. He then booked it to the Quidditch pitch to do some much-needed thinking.

After about half an hour of flying and thinking over what he had seen, James began to get angry. He landed, put him broom away, and made his way back to the Gryffindor common room to see Remus working nonchalantly on his homework, hair slightly ruffled, and Sirius nowhere in sight.

James entered his dormitory and found Sirius on sitting on his bed, back turned to James.

"Hey Padfoot." James had resolved to talk to Sirius about what had just happened.

"Hey." Obviously, Sirius was in no mood for talking. James, never being one for subtlety in conversations, especially ones with Sirius, decided to just drop the bomb.

"So- you and Moony had a good time up here?"

He saw Sirius' shoulders immediately stiffen. "What do you mean?" Came the strangled reply from the boy sitting on the bed.

"Oh come on, Padfoot, I saw you two! When exactly were you going to tell me about this?"

No reply.

"Well, how did it start?"

Nothing.

"So are you two dating, in love, or…"

"God, James, it's just a fuck, okay? Why do you always have to know everything anyway?"

James felt a wave of anger and protectiveness crash over him. Shaking slightly, he calmed himself and walked over to where Sirius was seated on the bed. Sirius didn't move and turned his face away from his friend.

"It may just be a fuck for you, but Moony's different. I know him, and so do you and you know that he's looking for more. Sirius, I've seen how you treat the guys you get involved with, you never commit, and they always end up broken hearted. You're my best friend, but so is Moony and I swear, if you do anything to hurt him, I'll make you regret it. Don't fuck with his emotions."

James was going to say more, he felt he had a pretty good monologue going there, but he immediately stopped when Sirius turned his face towards him. He looked terrible- he had circles under his eyes, his hair was unkempt (for once in his life), and James just began to notice that Sirius seemed skinnier than usual. Sirius looked tragic, hopeless, worn out. He laughed bitterly.

"How about if Moony does anything to hurt me? What will you do to him?"

James was at a loss for words. After a few seconds he spoke up,

"You love him, don't you?"

"Yeah, James, I love him."

"How long?"

"About a year now. It all started after the fucking Willow prank when he wasn't talking to me. For those couple months, I felt horrible- it was the worst time I ever had, and that's including being disowned and Regulus turning his back on me. I realized then that I was hopelessly in love with him." Sirius paused for a second, and his eyes began to hint at watering. "After Remus started talking to me again, I was elated. But our relationship changed. It was probably easy for him to see that I was interested. So one night-it was that night you and Pete got so drunk you passed out in the Room of Requirement- after quite a few Firewhiskeys, he got into my bed. And the rest is history- we've been doing this for about three months now."

"So why do you look so unhappy? Isn't this what you want?"

Sirius looked affronted and slightly shocked.

"What I want? A quick, unemotional fuck? It's always on his terms- he tells me when, where, and I always follow like a kicked puppy or something. We don't even kiss. It's…animalistic. No feelings involved. Why the hell would I want that?"

James said nothing- he could think of nothing to say. After what seemed an eternity of an awkward silence, James made a decision.

"Mate, I'm sorry I got pissed at you. God, I judged that situation all wrong. I should have known you better. If there's anyway I can help you, you can count on me. Unrequited love sucks"

Sirius scoffed

"I _know_ it does, Sirius. Just remember- we're dealing with similar situations, okay? So if you want to talk, let me know."

"Thanks, Prongs. How is that going, by the way?"

"She _smiled_ at me when I was coming back from detention! I swear! She smiled at _me_! Or it could have been at Alice Prewett, who was standing behind me."

Sirius laughed, and James was glad to at least have done that for his friend, even if it did sound slightly forced. Chuckling slightly and patting his friend on the back, James changed into his pajamas and slipped a bit wearily into his warm bed.


	2. The Musings of Sirius Black

**Author's Note:** Thank you to everybody who read my story, and a big thanks to those of you who reviewed! I loved it! Okay, this chapter is not that long, but I am almost finished with the third chapter so it should be up soon! Also, if this is too angsty, please keep on reading because I promise it will lighten up a bit. Please please review and enjoy!

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After the little talk he had with James, Sirius crawled into his bed, pulling the curtains shut around him. He tried to get some sleep, because he had been sleeping badly lately, but his thoughts were too full and his emotions too complex for him to find any rest. He thought about what James had said, and the quintessential Black temper flared up-- why did James automatically assume that is was he who was going to break hearts? Did James really think he would do that? The logical part of his brain fought over his irrationality, and he thought of the men and women he'd "dated" in his past six years at Hogwarts.

Sirius thought back on his past relationships, both with girls and with guys. His first girlfriend, Ismene Wellbrock, had lasted two months until the novelty of having a girlfriend wore off and he ended the relationship, only saying that "it wasn't going to work". He remembered that she had, for two weeks, failed to show up in class without her eyes being red and puffy from crying. After that, Sirius had had a string of hookups and "relationships" that never lasted more than two weeks. After Sirius came out, he thought that this restlessness would change as he would actually be with the sex he wanted.

His first boyfriend was perfect. Brian McCarthy was a sixth-year Hufflepuff. He was also the captain of his Quidditch team, and was a superb Beater. He was strong, handsome, smart, and best of all, a little mischievous. For a while, Sirius thought that he had cured him of his restlessness, and their relationship lasted three months. But then Sirius cheated on him with a seventh-year Slytherin (whom nobody was supposed to know about) and Brian broke up with him. Brian's Quidditch skills had never been the same after that.

Will Thomas was a fifth-year Ravenclaw. He and Sirius hadn't even been dating- they'd just hook up in broom cupboards or abandoned classrooms from time to time. Will, however, got too clingy and when he wanted to make it official, Sirius started getting mean. Eventually, the man got so strung up and depressed that he switched schools and went to Beauxbatons. Then there was Adel, Ryan, and Dylan- all guys that he'd dated for a week and gotten bored with. When he broke it off with them, they all asked why, and he couldn't give them an answer. It was one of the worst feelings in his life, seeing someone's heart break in front of him. It was after his breakup with Will that Sirius began to feel that the reason he couldn't stay with one guy was because he was in love with one of his best friends.

And now, Sirius guessed that he was getting his comeuppance. The one time he actually wants to be closer to somebody, and Remus didn't want anything to do with him romantically. Looking back on his past relationships, Sirius saw how James could have come to the conclusion that he did, but it did nothing to alleviate how horrible he felt. In fact, this revelation only added guilt to what he was currently feeling.

Sirius hated himself. He knew that he loved Remus so badly that it actually hurt (okay, maybe he was being a bit dramatic, but he loved the man a lot) and he knew that his emotional well-being depended on him ending the situation he had gotten himself into with Remus. He would argue with himself, pacing outside of the dormitory and building up all of his Gryffindor courage to go to Remus and end things with him, only to have his resolve come crashing down on him the second he saw those amber eyes. Sirius couldn't resist him, and knowing this made Sirius feel worthless, cowardly, weak, and cheap.

What was killing him the most, however, was the fact that he knew without a doubt that Remus didn't reciprocate his feelings. Sure, Remus wanted him-- Sirius knew that he was hot-- but Sirius also knew that their relationship was shallow and sexual. He was at a loss as how to fix things.

As Sirius was thinking this, he saw his curtains being pulled open and in a second put a blank face on, guarding himself against whomever the intruder was.

It was Remus, standing over him with an equally blank face. He was in his pajamas, obviously about to go to bed.

"Hey Sirius" he whispered, "Can I talk to you?"

In order to not wake up Peter or James, Remus was leaning close to him. The closeness was too much for Sirius to resist, and without thinking about what he was doing Sirius got out of bed and followed his friend out of the dormitory.


	3. It Ain't Me, Babe

**Hey, here's the third chapter! I hope you all like it and I promise that Remus' POV will come. Thank you so much for everybody who read and reviewed, I love the reviews- keep them coming and enjoy!**

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Remus led Sirius into a deserted classroom, taking care to shut the door behind him. He paused for a second as if to gather his control, and turned to face the man he was with.

Sirius, unable to help himself any longer and hating himself all the while, stepped close to Remus and pulled their bodies together. A hand on his chest stopped him.

"No, Sirius, I need to talk to you. This isn't going to work anymore."

There was a silence, and a strained voice broke it.

"W-why?"

"Oh come on, you knew that this wasn't going to work. I think it's jeopardizing our friendship. You knew this was going to have to end sometime, didn't you?"

Sirius merely looked at the floor, shaking with some kind of emotion Remus couldn't exactly place. Was it sadness? Anger?

Remus took Sirius' chin in his hand and brought it up so that they were looking at each other. Sirius' faced changed from one of bitter disappointment to one of puzzlement and hope.

"Padfoot, you're the best friend I have, I owe everything to you, but I can't keep doing this. We had our fun, but now it has to end. At some point we have stop fucking around and grow up. Now, let's go back to bed."

"What about James and Peter?"

"What _about_ James and Peter? They haven't known about us this long, so we'll pretend like nothing happened. I really don't want this to damage what we have, so can we please go back to normal?"

Those eyes were too much for him; Sirius nodded, and they both left the room for their beds, Sirius rushing past Remus and not bothering to wait up for him. Once in bed, Sirius let the gravity of what had happened wash over him. He had wanted a fix for the problem, hadn't he gotten one? Why did it have to hurt so badly?

He felt like crying, but his Black upbringing had allowed no room for such trivial things as crying- one of the lessons his mother taught him that he couldn't shake off was never to cry and least of all, to let others see you cry. So Sirius lay in bed, whimpering softly, shaking, and punching his pillow, but in all of his anguish he never let one tear escape.

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Peter woke up from his sleep with a feeling that something was wrong. He looked uneasily around him, immediately searching for comfort in the sleeping forms of his friends beside him. After a while, Peter knew what was wrong- there was only one other person in the room with him. He knew immediately that it was James- the boy's snores could be heard and identified from miles around. Where were Moony and Padfoot? Peter crept over to Sirius' trunk and, after a moment of careful rummaging so as not to wake up James, took out the Marauder's Map. He then crept over to his bed and, in the quietest voice possible, whispered; _I solemnly swear that I am up to no good_.

It took Peter a while to locate Sirius and Remus. They seemed to be together in a deserted classroom. Peter immediately felt a stab of jealousy and nervousness- what were they doing alone in a classroom, and why didn't they tell him? After a while, however, the marauder in him took over and Peter became overwhelmingly curious as to what they were doing. Without further ado, Peter put on his slippers and left the dormitory to find his friends.

When he arrived at the deserted classroom, Peter was slightly taken aback by Sirius rushing past him, looking depressed and murderous, and not even seeing Peter who was about a foot away from him in an otherwise deserted corridor. Peter stayed where he was for a while, shocked, until he heard a quiet voice call his nickname.

"Wormtail?" It was Remus, and although he was not looking quite as bad as Sirius, Peter could tell that something was wrong. Remus had too much of a blank face on and Peter could tell that it was hiding some great emotion.

"Wormtail? What are you doing here?" Remus asked. Peter tried to recover.

"Oh hey, Moony- um… I was….um, going down to the kitchens and got lost on my way…"

Remus smiled a little. "Wormtail, how can you get lost if you have the Marauder's Map in your hand? Looks like you are exactly where you wanted to be."

Peter blushed a bit; embarrassed at being caught and now feeling like he should have never gotten out of bed. "Sorry Moony, it's just I woke up and you two weren't in your beds and I was scared."

"It's okay, really. Shall we go to bed, then?"

"Wait, Moony. Is everything alright? I mean you don't look quite fine. Did something happen with Sirius?"

"Nah, everything is all right with him and me. We just had a bit of an argument, but don't worry, we've fixed it all. Tomorrow will be back to normal. As for not looking quite well, I suppose I'm tired with full moon being in a week, plus that essay for McGonagall's got me all stressed out. Actually, when I think about it, having midnight conversations in abandoned classrooms probably doesn't help either. Shall we go to bed?"

Remus said this all with such control and earnestness that Peter was for a moment tempted to believe him. He didn't, but he didn't question any further because he knew Remus, and he knew that if Remus did not want to say what his problem was, then he wouldn't. Peter and Remus walked up to bed, staying silent for most of the trip. While walking, however, Peter vowed to keep a closer watch on his friend, for he felt that Remus was actually in trouble, although he couldn't for the life of him say what that trouble was.


	4. Breakfast Charms

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Remus woke up on the morning after he "broke it off" with Sirius feeling slightly nervous. He had been friends with Sirius since October of his first year at Hog warts, and he knew the Animagus well. The thing he knew best about Sirius, however, was that he was unpredictable. Sirius had horrible tempers and one could never really know how he would react to something like what Remus had just done. Remus was confused- he was almost certain that what they had been doing for the past couple of months was exactly what Sirius wanted. He knew that Sirius had been looking at him for a while with longing, spending more time with him, and going to extreme lengths just to please Remus, but Remus thought that this was a mix between Sirius wanting him in bed and Sirius' relief about finally being forgiven by Remus. Remus had been more than happy to oblige after he knew that Sirius wanted him- it had been close to full moon, he had been drunk, and things had just fallen into place. Afterwards, however, Remus felt horrible- he was letting the instinctual, wolfish side of him take control over his logical side. He knew that getting involved with Sirius would be a bad idea and might jeopardize his friendship, but it seemed that when he was feeling wolfish he couldn't help himself. Remus hated it. After he'd seen the look of hurt and desperation in Sirius' eyes after he had broken it off, however, Remus wasn't entirely sure about the neutrality of Sirius' feelings. Remus himself knew that he was not secretly in love with the man or anything, but he was beginning to feel that maybe Sirius was feeling more for him than he let on.

After a couple of minutes of lying in bed thinking about his situation, Remus lifted himself off of bed and went to get ready for breakfast and Transfiguration. He looked over at the still sleeping form of Sirius and went into the bathroom. He seriously hoped that Sirius would forget all about what had been going on, and that this would not cause a break in the Marauders, but he knew that Sirius could be brooding. When he came out of the bathroom, his three roommates were beginning to stir.

"Moony!!! Good morning! Why are you always up so early?" Obviously James was awake, being his normal cheerful, energetic, annoying morning-person self.

"Hey, Prongs." Was all Remus could muster this early in the morning- he himself needed at least ten minutes of being up before he could begin to talk sensibly,

"HEY! YOU BUMS! GET UP!" James yelled, hitting the lump hidden under the covers in Peter's bed where his head might be if it were not completely covered by blankets, and moving on to Sirius' bed, whose curtains were still closed. Peter gave a grunt of annoyance and groggily got out of bed, moving immediately to the bathroom and shutting the door behind him. Peter was not a morning person.

By this time James had reached Sirius' bed, and was pulling open the curtains. Remus watched the scene unfold while packing his bookbag with what he'd need for the day. James ceremoniously opened Sirius' curtains, looked down at his best friend, and unceremoniously threw himself on top of Sirius. Remus heard a muffled sound that was part yell, part bark, and part growl.

"Get off of me, you git" Sirius said, slightly muffled from somewhere under the form of James.

"Come on, sunshine! Carpe Diem!"

"You're an idiot."

"Oh get up already!" James said while climbing off of his friend, "You're usually not worse to wake up than Peter! Put a smile on and…. What happened to _you_?"

Remus looked up from his books, and was slightly shocked. Sirius face had emerged from the blankets, and he looked as if he had been up all night- his eyes had even bigger bags underneath them, dark purple circles that stood out brilliantly against his paler than usual face and his bloodstained eyes. Sirius looked around a bit warily- when his eyes fell on Remus, his expression was one of pain and suffering, but only for a second- then he was grinning and sitting up, yawning hugely and reaching for his robes. The change on Sirius' expression was so quick that Remus was almost sure that he'd imagined it. Sirius turned to James.

"I couldn't get to sleep last night, and when I did I had bad dreams. But come on, it's not that bad. Nothing a quick shower can't fix. Don't worry, Prongs, when I come out of that bathroom I'll be just as dashingly handsome as usual!" Sirius flashed a brilliant smile and sauntered over to the bathroom door, disappearing behind it. James turned to Remus.

"So, mate, what do you say we get down to breakfast and have a big meal of eggs and sausages? We'll save some toast for the bums."

Remus nodded and followed James down to breakfast, hoping that Sirius' mood will stay relatively constant.

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James was worried when he saw Sirius' face- he knew that something had changed between Sirius and Remus, as he had heard them leaving in the middle of the night together and they had come back within fifteen minutes- and had a strong suspicion that their fling had ended. When Sirius sauntered down to breakfast, looking dashing and carefree, however, James breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps the end of the fling was just what Sirius needed in order to get over Remus. James grinned hugely as Sirius threw himself into the bench next to James, grabbed whatever food was closest to him, and said,

"Morning, ladies. Did you get up early to apply your makeup?"

James laughed a big laugh that seemed to transcend the feeble joke Sirius had made. It was more out of relief than anything else.

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When Sirius came down to breakfast, Remus was relieved to see that he seemed to be taking everything rather well. _Maybe I was wrong_, he thought, _maybe he did just think of it all as another hookup_. Remus felt a pang of regret at this thought, and wondered why it was there. He was distracted, however, by Sirius turning to him and attempting to say something. This was rather difficult; however, seeing as his face was stuffed with egg.

"Um, sorry?"

Sirius swallowed the eggs and tried again.

"Moony, pass me the bacon, would ya? And are you done with that toast?" Without waiting for an answer, he reached across the table and grabbed it, stuffing it in his mouth. _Ah yes, the old Sirius has returned_, Remus remarked with satisfaction.

The rest of the morning passed by pretty uneventfully- the Marauders were spectacularly bored in History of Magic and James and Sirius spent the entire class passing notes to each other. Remus' cauldron in Potions was sabotaged by Snape, but then exploded all over the Slytherin and he had to be taken to the hospital wing to get rid of the unsightly boils on his face, and the four of them had an eating contest turned food fight in lunch, earning glares from the teachers and laughter from many of their classmates.

After lunch, the boys had a free period. Sirius, James, and Peter all wanted to go to the Quidditch pitch- after some persuading, Remus agreed. It was close to the full moon and Remus was feeling a bit moody, but he relented because he knew that he wouldn't have peace unless he did. The boys began to make their way outside, passing many classes that were in session on their way.

Sirius was talking loudly and obnoxiously until James caught sight of a fifth-year Ravenclaw whom he'd been wanting to set up with Peter. Dragging said boy by the scruff of his neck, James went to go talk to the girl, leaving Remus and Sirius alone since Remus had ended things. Sirius caught Remus' eye, and what felt like a current of electricity was shared between them. For a while they just stared at each other. Remus was beginning to feel uncomfortable at the look Sirius was giving him. It was full of… hunger.

"Listen, Moony…" Sirius said, breaking the silence and the intense gaze held between the two, and trailing off, not really knowing what he was about to say.

It took Remus a while to get himself together- he was thrown off by Sirius' head-on stare that clearly showed him how much Sirius still wanted him. Somewhere inside of him, the wolf began to stir and Remus felt himself wanting Sirius back. He found himself remembering their old rendezvous, and the intense, often wild moments that they seemed to be filled with.

Remus realized with a start that Sirius was yet again looking at him, biting his lower lip slightly and looking expectantly at him. Remus was about to answer and say- anything, but he was saved from having to do so as James and Peter caught up with him and they started walking to the stairs, passing the Charms classroom on the way where Flitwick was teaching a class of first years.

"So, Peter's got a date! Isn't that great? Carly said she'd go with Pete to Hosgmeade next weekend. Ooh, I am good! Maybe I'll ask Evans and we can go on a double date…"

As James was rambling on, Remus felt shocked and slightly terrified to notice that maybe that time with Sirius had affected him a little too much. Silently curing the wolf, his hormones, and especially Sirius, Remus moved the book he was bringing to the Quidditch pitch lower on his body in order to cover a certain growing problem. Thinking quickly, Remus interjected James' talk to excuse himself.

"Listen, guys, I just realized that I still have that essay that McGonagall gave me an extension for due tomorrow. I'm just gonna go finish it really quickly. Bye."

Remus sprinted down the hall before his friends could interject, once more passing the Charms corridor where Flitwick was instructing his class.

"_Wingardium Leviosa_. Come on boys, make those feathers rise! Rise!"

After solving his...problem, Remus left the bathroom and threw himself on his bed, once again cursing his life and Sirius Black. Why was Sirius affecting him this much? Even when they were involved and the full moon was near, Remus still had never reacted as much as he just did. He also was worried about whether Sirius and he could remain friends when they were alone together- if what had just happened was going to happen every time, they obviously would not be able to. Remus resolved to be nicer to Sirius and to act like they did before they were hooking up, even before the Willow Incident. He would alleviate all tension and hopefully still be able to keep Sirius as a friend. Sighing, Remus felt that this plan would not have a great chance at succeeding, but he resolved to so whatever he could to save his and Sirius' friendship, for it meant more to Remus than he cared to admit. After Sirius told Snape about the Willow passageway and when Remus wasn't talking to him, he was miserable. Remus had never liked being mad at his friends and hated fights, but with Sirius it was even more- he had ached to just talk and joke with Sirius. Now that they had finally repaired their friendship, Remus would fight to keep it. After resolving to do so, Remus got up from his bed to place his plan into action, heading directly to the Quidditch Pitch and, more importantly, to Sirius.


	5. Dates and Mistakes

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**Hey guys, sorry about the long wait for the update! I will try to get the next one up soon. Also, please please review! Enjoy!**

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"You can't wear that, it doesn't match at all!"

"Shut up and fix your hair!"

"I CAN'T! Stop bringing it up!"

"Fuck off!"

Sirius sighed at his bickering friends and turned to Remus, who was sitting with him on his bed. It was the night of Peter's date with Carly, and James was (unsuccessfully) trying to coach Peter in what he should be wearing. The problem with his attempt was that James had the worst fashion sense out of the four Marauders.

"Oh, what children we live with!" Sirius exclaimed to Remus. Remus smiled and put an arm around the other boy, who tensed slightly but otherwise tried his best to keep his conflicting emotions from showing.  
_What is he doing? He's been like this for a few days…does he like me? _

Sirius didn't dare to hope that Remus had miraculously returned his affections, but it was the only answer Sirius could think of for why Remus had suddenly been acting so differently. Remus hadn't touched him in such a warm manner since before the infamous Willow Prank, and it seemed like Remus was going out of his way to joke with and to touch Sirius. _Does he want me back? _Sirius thought. He tried to shake the idea out of his head, but once it had been planted, he couldn't stop thinking about it. It made sense….

Sirius was brought out of his thinking by a rudely thrown and surprisingly hard pillow.

"OY! Padfoot!! Pay attention to me!"

"What do you want, Prongs?"

"What's up? I've been talking to you for like five minutes!"

"Whatever, it probably wasn't important anyway"

Remus laughed. Sirius smiled a bit.

"Ouch, man. So anyway, since Carly's friends with Evans, do you think I could convince her to bring her on the date, and we'll make it a double? Or maybe I'll make Pete marry Carly and then…"

"You were right, it wasn't important." Remus chuckled into Sirius' ear.

Sirius laughed one of his loud, bark-like laughs. James looked mortally offended that his best friend had dared not pay attention to him two times in a row, but said nothing.

"Hey guys, what time is it?" Peter asked from the bathroom where he was fixing his hair. He had decided to go with a blue striped button up and some jeans, which looked pretty well when they were on him.

"7:40" Sirius answered.

"Oh shit! I was supposed to be down there ten minutes ago! _That's _gonna make a great impression!" Peter rushed to the door, hurriedly muttering about how much trouble dates were and the impossible standards of women.

"Then switch to men, mate!" Sirius yelled at his friends' retreating back. Peter gave him the one-fingered salute over his back and disappeared.

"Oh, our little baby is all grown up!" James sighed wistfully. "Well ladies, I must be off. I have to go woo my fair maiden!"

"We'll see you in the hospital wing, then" Remus answered.

"Probably. Bye!"

And Sirius and Remus were left alone. By themselves. On Sirius' bed. The temptation was almost too much for Sirius to handle, and his desire to control himself was quickly waning by the second. There was an awkward silence.

"So…" Remus started. "Fancy a game of chess?"

Slightly disappointed, Sirius agreed and went to get the chessboard.

The boys played their chess game for a couple of hours- they were pretty evenly matched when they played together and it took a while before Sirius began getting a bit restless, making more mistakes, and Remus was able to take the game. Sirius was thinking that they seemed to be getting on pretty well- there were minimal awkward moments in the chess game. He thought he saw Remus looking at him and smiling out of the corner of his eye a few times as well, and so even though he lost the game, he came out of it happy and hopeful. Sirius had never been one for subtlety or shyness, and now that he thought that Remus was finally showing that he liked Sirius, he was working up his courage to make a move on the other boy. After their chess game, Remus started doing his homework and Sirius lay on his bed- there was a comfortable silence in the room that made him feel peaceful. He didn't want the time he was spending in Remus' company to end.

But alas, James Potter walked into the room, and all peace and quiet went running out of the door. James stormed over to Sirius' bed, threw himself onto it dramatically, and loudly proclaimed that he was tired of Ms. Evans' obvious denial of her feelings, and she should just hurry up and like him already because he was getting a bit tired of waiting for her.

"And James Potter's famous modesty and self-consciousness comes shining through once again" Remus said from somewhere in the depths of the enormous tome he was reading for History of Magic.

A few minutes later, after both Remus and Sirius had been sufficiently bored by James' long-winded speech about Lily, the door of the boys' dormitory opened and a delighted Peter stepped into the room. For the time being, (and probably not for long), the boys' conversation about Lily Evans stopped and they turned their attention towards their friend. Even Remus put down his homework to find out how the date went.

"Wormtail! You stud! How did the date go?" Sirius asked.

Wormtail beamed and inhaled- apparently it went well.

"Wonderful! She's great! We just walked around the grounds and talked for a while, and then we sat by the lake, and I took her to the kitchens, it was amazing! We seemed to really connect. Plus she was super impressed about how much I know about the castle- thanks to you guys. And…. I got a kiss!! Nothing big, but she did agree to go on a second date!"

"That's awesome, Wormtail! I'm so proud!" James exclaimed, sounding genuinely happy.

Shortly after this, the boys decided that it was time for bed. James and Remus got ready and into bed pretty quickly, and Sirius and Peter were left in the bathroom brushing their teeth. Peter couldn't stop smiling, making it hard to brush his teeth.

"Went that well, huh?" Sirius asked, sounding slightly muffled on account of the toothbrush in his mouth.

Peter spat and answered, "Sirius, it was the best date I've ever been on! I don't want to get ahead of myself, but…. I think I might be falling in love with her! But keep it to yourself, 'cause James would definitely say something if he knew and I don't want to scare her off."

Sirius suddenly felt horrible. Feeling that he had to be a good friend, however, he put aside his bad feelings and spat, forcing a smile on his face.

"That's great, Wormtail! And don't worry, I won't tell."

"Thanks, Padfoot. Good night!" and Peter left the bathroom, humming slightly to himself.

Sirius sighed. Why couldn't he just be happy for Peter? The man had had some bad relationships; he deserved to be in love. But the second Peter had mentioned love, Sirius felt a pang of jealousy. He knew that love was supposed to be happy and hopeful- it was supposed to turn you into a smiling, humming fool, as Peter was right now. Peter showed him the great parts about love- but how come Sirius was only getting the horrible ones? The guilt, the hurt, the uncertainty, it was all too much without the happiness and peacefulness that was supposed to come with it. Wasn't he entitled to as much?

Sirius went to bed with these thoughts in his mind, but woke up in the middle of the night with a revelation. Remus had been acting differently around him lately, and Sirius had suspected that it was because Remus finally started caring about him. If Sirius wanted to be happy, then he had to take every opportunity and earn it. Making a decision, he quickly got out of bed to wake up Remus.

"Moony, Moony" he whispered, looking at the boy's face and leaning close. It would be so easy, just to close the gap between them and kiss him…. But no. He was sleeping- that would be weird. So Sirius settled for gently shaking Remus' shoulder. He stirred, blinked a couple of times, and stared into Sirius' eyes.

"Padfoot? What's going on?" he whispered.

"I need to talk to you. Follow me" Sirius answered, turning away from the bed. Remus looked utterly puzzled and a bit concerned, but he followed without question.

Sirius led the way into the now empty common room, and turned to face Remus.

"Sorry for waking you up"

"It's okay" Remus answered and Sirius couldn't help but notice that Remus didn't exactly meet his eyes. He also couldn't help but notice that Remus was completely irresistible when he was uncomfortable and bashful.

"So… what's up?" Remus asked, looking a bit concerned.

Sirius kissed him as a response. It was meant to be a short, sweet kiss but the second Sirius touched Remus, he couldn't help himself; he launched into the kiss wholeheartedly and a bit desperately, clinging to the other boy's face. He could feel Remus tense in shock, but it felt too right for Sirius to pull away even if he could. After a few seconds, he felt Remus relax a bit, and Remus began to kiss back. Feeling like he was the luckiest man in the world, Sirius put out his tongue- Remus opened his mouth tentatively, but a second later he pulled away, pushing Sirius a bit and averting his eyes.

Sirius' feeling of complete happiness disappeared in a flash, and he was brought brutally back to reality to see a confused and angry Remus in front of him. Sirius couldn't see any of the tenderness he had felt when he was kissing Remus, and he immediately felt a terrible sadness upon him.

There was silence for a while. Then…

"What was that?" Remus asked quietly. Sirius felt like an idiot. He had been wrong- Remus didn't feel anything for him, and by the looks of it he just screwed things up even more between them. Why couldn't he have just been content with being friends? Why did he always mess everything up?


	6. Born to Run

**Hey- the next chapters should be up very soon- I'm trying to finish this story before Deathly Hallows comes out! Also, sorry about the weird formatting- I hate computers. Enjoy and please review!**

Remus was furious at the man in front of him. The kiss they had just shared changed everything between them. Okay, now he definitely knew how Sirius felt, but hadn't he, Remus, made it clear that he wasn't looking for anything involved? Remus was frustrated. He turned to Sirius, who now looked so tragic that it dissuaded some of Remus' anger and frustration. It didn't get rid of enough, though, to stop Remus from confronting him.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Sirius said nothing, but he looked like he was torn between hearing Remus out and throwing himself out of the nearest window.

"Sirius" Remus started, then fell silent. What was he going to say to Sirius? That he was mad because Sirius had basically just thrown away their friendship? That it had been failing for some time, and obviously despite Remus' efforts it was finally at an end?

Remus sighed, said a quick "I'm going to bed" to Sirius, and climbed the stairs to his dormitory. He thought he heard Sirius called after him, but he didn't answer and he went straight to his bed, closing his curtains. When Sirius came up a minute later, softly calling his name, Remus pretended that he was asleep and eventually Sirius gave up and, instead of going to bed, went back out of the dormitory door. Remus lay awake in his bed for a long time- he tried desperately to get to sleep, for the full moon was in two days and he was exhausted, but his mind didn't seem to want to stop running. He kept replaying the scene in his mind, and couldn't get Sirius' heartbroken look as Remus had rejected him out of his mind. Miraculously, however, Remus finally drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Remus woke up the next morning way too early for his liking- he almost went back to sleep, but was woken by a shout.

"WAKE UP, PAD… hey, where's Sirius?"

Remus woke up enough to pull himself out of bed and look in the direction of Sirius' bed. It was empty, and Remus wondered whether Sirius had even bothered going back to bed the night before. He saw James' puzzled expression turned towards him, taking in his more tired and ragged than usual appearance. Something that resembled comprehension passed over his face, and a thought went through Remus' head- Does he know? His suspicion was confirmed when James sent Peter to look for Sirius and turned to face Remus, concern and anger apparent on his face.

"What is going on, Moony?"

Remus didn't answer- he didn't yet know how much James knew about the situation, and remained wary. Finally, he responded.

"I don't know, James."  
"Oh, don't bullshit me, I know what's been going on between you two. And I know that something's changed- you both look miserable."

Remus hesitated- should he tell James everything? What he'd been feeling lately? Like how he thought the fling with Sirius was exactly what they both wanted? Like the thought of not having Sirius in his life seems too much to bear? Like the fact that he'd enjoyed the one kiss they had shared so much that he couldn't get it out of his head?  
_Wait_, thought Remus_, I haven't been able to get that kiss out of my mind. Oh, shit_.  
"Look, James, things are just complicated right now, so I'd appreciate it if you just let us work things out, okay?"  
"I'd like to agree, Moony, but I think that you're both mucking things up now, and I'm not gonna stand aside and let the Marauders break apart because you two are pricks."  
"Well, thanks, James, I feel much better."  
"Sarcasm was never your strong point, Moony. But back to the subject, stop fucking with his emotions. He's fucked up enough as it is with his family, don't go adding more baggage."

Remus sighed; James had voiced what he had been thinking about since he knew that Sirius felt something for him. He felt horrible, ten times worse now that James had said it aloud and made what he had done to Sirius real.

"I don't want to hurt him, Prongs. It's just that I thought this had no feelings involved and then there were, on his part, and then he kissed me and I freaked, but it was good and now I'm not so sure if I don't feel for him, but I'm scared and I don't know if it's real and it's all extremely confusing. And the full moon's in a couple days so the wolf wants him and I'm so tired and I'm just so damn… confused."

There was a moment of silence after Remus' long-winded speech. James looked a bit perplexed for a second, but recovered pretty quickly.  
"Well, mate, then you're gonna have to figure out your emotions, and fast, I'd say, before you hurt him even more." And James left. Remus wasn't even sure if the talk they just had had helped at all, but he seemed pretty determined about something now. He just wished he knew what it was.

Sirius didn't turn up for breakfast, nor for History of Magic. Remus began to get worried, and instead of taking notes in Binns' class let his mind wander to Sirius. First, he began to speculate about all of the horrible things that could have happened to his friend since last night. Had he run away? Had something happened to him? Remus knew that their world was getting steadily more dangerous- did he go out of bounds, and was attacked?

After the initial worrying subsided, however, Remus turned his thoughts to his more emotional worries. He had been thinking about the kiss a lot lately, and although it terrified him every time, he knew that he had loved it. He missed being away from Sirius- he missed touching him and having him close, but he also missed talking to him, looking at him, and joking with him. Was that love? He wasn't entirely sure.

After History of Magic, the Marauders that were actually in class made their way to Care of Magical Creatures. On the way, Remus fell behind, looking at the Whomping Willow entrance that would lead the way to his temporary domain while he transformed in the next couple of days. He felt an immediate pull toward the tree and, giving the others the slip by forgetting that he left a book in the common room, fell behind, waited for the class to be out of sight, and ran to the tree, touching the knot and freezing it and disappearing under the tunnel.

Remus emerged into the Shrieking Shack, looking around and shivering slightly. He had never been inside the dark house unless he was rushing into it, on the brink of his transformation. He had never even seen the house when he had had a clear mind since Dumbledore had shown him and his parents the Shack when he was eleven, a month before he came to Hogwarts for the first time. How the Shrieking Shack had changed through the years- it had always been gloomy and dusty, but after years of housing a temperamental werewolf who had been suffering from adolescence, it had some gruesome additions. The walls were streaked with blood, there were claw marks on the walls, and he had managed to destroy just about every piece of furniture in the house beyond recognition. Worst of all was the smell- blood and dust combined together in a scent that, to Remus' heightened scent of smell, made his eyes water. As he looked around his monthly cage, Remus got an overwhelming sense of foreboding. He had been incredibly stressed lately and his instinct told him now that the upcoming full moon would be one of his worst- he knew that even if the others came to join him, he would be violent. Remus shuddered- he suddenly didn't want to be in the house anymore, and immediately left to go rejoin his half-missed Care of Magical Creatures lesson, being a bit grateful that Professor Kettleburn was too scared of him to tell him off for being late.

As he came out of the entrance of the Shrieking Shack, however, Remus caught sight of a tall figure emerging solemnly out of the Forbidden Forest. Curious as to whom it was, Remus walked toward the person. He stopped suddenly, when realization hit him, and couldn't help but let out a gasp. The man turned around to the source of the noise, his dark hair going into his eyes. Remus felt a surge of electricity as his and Sirius' eyes met, and the wolf inside him reared his head interestedly. After a few seconds of looking each other in the eye, Sirius turned his head away and rushed up to the castle, taking out his wand and hexing a second-year who had the bad luck of being in his way. Remus went up to the second-year, lifted the Hair-thickening Charm from the terrified girl, and made his way to Care of Magical Creatures. By the time he made it up to the part of the grounds next to the Forbidden Forest and the lake, however, the class had been dismissed. James and Peter, looking confused bit relieved, rushed to where he was.

"Where were you, Moony? I thought you were only going back for your books" Peter asked.

"Oh, I, um, fell asleep on my bed." Remus thought it was a lame excuse,but James and Peter smiled.

"We thought it'd be something like that, what with the time of the month and everything" James said, reassured. The boys had reached their dormitory in order to put away their things before going to lunch. Remus opened the door to their dormitory and turned to the other two.

"Listen, about that…time of the month" he said a bit spitefully; James smirked, "I don't think you guys should come. I've been feeling rather-violent lately, and I really don't think it's safe for even you guys to be with me right now."

James and Peter seemed disappointed.

"Aw, come on Moony, we had great things planned for that night!" James whined

"Plus, if you're having a hard time we want to be there for you" added Peter.

"Look guys, it's just not safe right now, okay? I appreciate you trying to help but I'll be even more agitated if I know you're gonna be there, and I can't take that chance. Promise me you won't be there?"  
James a Peter hesitated slightly, but shook their heads.

"Thanks" Remus felt a bit of the tension leave. Peter went to go search for his Potions book in his trunk, and James took the opportunity to say quietly to Remus, "You really think Sirius will keep away?"

Remus snorted. "Sirius won't even be in the same classes as me right now, I don't think I'll have a problem with him"

"Whatever you say, I still think…… wait a minute- since when have Sirius' bed hangings been closed?"  
Remus' heart skipped; was Sirius in the room? He looked apprehensively at James.

"Listen, take Wormtail and go to lunch. I'll talk to him"

Remus nodded and left with Wormtail for the Great Hall just in time to see James pull away Sirius' bed hangings. Sirius was on his bed, his head in his hands and his shoulders shaking. Remus hastened his way to lunch, hoping that James could somehow make Sirius less dejected.

Sirius and James didn't show up to lunch, but they did make an appearance in Potions. They got into the classroom first and took their regular seats in the back of the class, but when Remus and Peter went, relieved, to join them, James sent them back with a shake of his head and a significant look. They instead made their way to the middle of the class, and shared a table with Benjy Fenwick, a pretty nice Ravenclaw, and Carmen Moser, his bitchy girlfriend who had hated the Marauders since the day that Sirius had broken up with her in third year.

"Trouble in Paradise? Are the famous Marauders finally getting their comeuppance?" Carmen smirked. Benjy looked apologetically at the pair, motioning for them to sit. Once Slughorn had made the introductions and given the class their instructions, Benjy and Carmen immediately got to work, and within three minutes were bickering about the correct theory of the antidote that they were making. Since the pair was too busy to be bothering with Remus and Peter, they were left to talk.

"Looks like Carmen might be right for once- you think this rift is ever gonna end?" Peter asked.

Remus laughed bitterly.

"Unlikely. Not with Sirius…" he stopped. He really wasn't in the mood to explain to Peter what had happened to start the fight. To his surprise, however, Peter smiled knowledgeably and replied,

"I know what it's about, Remus. I watched the pair of you and guessed what was going on. And James confirmed it."  
"Oh." Remus paused for a bit, then continued, "Looks like James is on Sirius' side."  
"Oh please. It's James and Sirius. No matter what happens, James will be on Sirius' side- that's just how it is. Don't blame it on yourself."  
"I guess. I just wish this would end already."

Peter looked like he was going to say something back, but at that moment Slughorn rounded on the pair, yelling at them to get back to work. Being the two of Slughorn's least favorite students and without having the cover of Slug Club members James and Sirius, the boys had no choice but to get to work and stifle all other conversation for most of the period.

* * *

The next day passed in a similar fashion, with the Marauders being divided down the middle and the school buzzing about what could possibly have divided the foursome this time. Finally, the time came when Remus had to make his way down to the hospital wing to meet up with Madame Pomfrey. He knocked on the door, and nervously paced in circles outside of the hospital wing waiting for her to get ready, looking exactly like a caged animal. When the medi-witch emerged, she took one look at Remus, sighed, and said,

"I'll stock up on bandages. Looks like you're in for a rough night."

Once Madame Pomfrey had left him in the Shack, wishing him good luck and reassuring him that she'd be there first thing in the morning as she had done every month that Remus had been in Hogwarts, he immediately started running around. He couldn't help himself- he felt anxious, nervous, and worst of all violent. He was immensely relieved that he had told his friends not to join him this night- even the thought of him in this pre-moon state filled him with something he knew to be hunger. The thought of Sirius was almost too much for him to bear- he picked up the nearest chair and smashed it against the wall to let out his frustration.

He felt his senses sharpen and his vision went into black and white-hurriedly, he shook himself out of his clothes and just managed to put them on top of a wardrobe, out of reach, when the pain began to come. He fell to his knees, gasping. It wasn't until he started screaming that he looked up and saw a solitary figure standing in front of him, and with a panic that transformed into a yell, then a scream of pain, then a beastly howl, Remus looked fearfully into the eyes of Sirius Black.


	7. Sirius Black and the Sexy Hallows

**Thanks for everybody who read this- I was originally going to make this two chapters but I would like to get it done before Deathly Hallows comes out, and I guess this is my last chance to do it! Thanks for all the ****reviews and the love- you rock!**

Sirius didn't exactly know why he had gone down to the Shrieking Shack that night even thought Remus had forbidden it- or maybe he did, he just didn't think about it. Either way, when he went into the Shrieking Shack, he could tell that something was wrong even before Remus had fully transformed- it seemed that, even as a human, Remus had already destroyed a chair. Undaunted by this display of violence, Sirius stayed with his friend, who after his transformation looked so weary and pained that Sirius thought that the danger might have been over. Within a minute, however, the werewolf had regained his strength and lunged at the great black dog that was beside him.

Sirius woke up in the morning full of pain and confused- he had never passed out during Remus' transformations before. He groggily lifted his head, transformed into human form, and lifted himself off the ground to find Remus. He found him in the next room, curled up in the matress like he usually was. At first Sirius thought that he was asleep, but he realised that Remus' eyes were open. He looked pretty good for a rough transformation- he had a couple of bites and scratches on his body, but Sirius was surprised at how shallow they were.

"Are you hurt much?" Remus asked, startling Sirius, who had been staring at Remus' unclothed body.

"Um… no, not that much, don't…" Sirius started to say, but Remus was shaking his head.

"I know when you're lying, Sirius- shit, look at you, you're covered in blood. We need to get you to Madame Pomfrey."

"And blow our cover? No way! Anyway, after years of going through this, you're the expert on healing these wounds."

Remus obliged- he got up from the mattress, wincing, while Sirius collapsed on it. He then went to retrieve his clothes, put on his trousers, and got his wand. There was a silence where Remus muttered incantations and passed the wand over Sirius' wounds, which slowly began to heal.

"Why did you come?" Remus asked.

Sirius smiled, "Come on, Moony, what's the point of me being an Animagus if I can't get beat up a little?"

"Sirius, stop joking around. I told you not to come. These must be so painful- I might have killed you. Why the hell can't you listen for once?" Despite his immense efforts to control himself, Remus' voice was shaking. Sirius realised that this wasn't the time for joking, and he didn't want to ruin it- no matter how weird and businesslike their conversation was, this was the first time that he and Remus were talking since he had kissed the boy. He could not deny that a part of him felt that the pain he was feeling was worth it, to have Remus next to him, caring for him, touching him, even if it is only to heal his wounds.

"I didn't want you to go through this alone" Sirius said, quietly. "If I hadn't been there, all these wounds would be on only you. I wanted to share some of the pain."

There was a silence- Sirius wa nervous, waiting for his friend to lose control and to start yelling, saying that he was an idiot and he never thought things through, and their friendship would be gone. The silence, however, stretched on. After an unbearable amount of waiting, Sirius lifted up his eyes to look at Remus- he seemed to be stunned, and to Sirius' horror, his eyes were watering. Before he could do anything, however, Remus got up from the floor, put on the rest of his clothes, and turned to Sirius.

"I'd better go- Madame Pomfrey will want to see me before I'm allowed to go to class. Thanks, Sirius."

And without another word, he was gone.

* * *

Remus's confusion had left him, in the short amount of time that it took Sirius to say those few sentences about why he had come. He knew now that he was in love with Sirius. And he also knew that he completely appreciated Sirius' love and devotion for him. For the first time in his life, Remus Lupin felt lucky. How many people had friends who loved you so much that they would get ripped apart by a werewolf just so that you wouldn't have to feel pain alone?

Although he knew about his feelings now, Remus still didn't know how he would act on it. He immediately recognised that there were risks involved- the lives of Remus Lupin and Sirius Black were both heavily weighes down by complicated baggage. He wasn't entirely sure if he was willing to put his heart on the line and love anyone, when there was such a big chance of being hurt.

After much contemplation in the hospital wing (Madame Pomfrey didn't feel that he should go to his morning classes, and made him stay in bed and take a number of horrible tasting potions), however, the hopeless romantic in him reared his head, and put the image of Sirius staggering bleeding and exhausted into the room where Remus was in the Shrieking Shack into Remus' mind. Sirius had taken risks- he had entered himself into a situation where he was bound to get hurt and had to endure pain for Remus- why couldn't he do the same? Wasn't he, Remus, supposed to be a Gryffindor?

Remus left the hospital wing determined, yet the moment he saw Sirius smile nervously at him in lunch, he lost his courage, dropped his gaze, and didn't say anything to Sirius except "pass the pumpkin juice."

* * *

Sirius was mad. And frustruated. And very, very scared. He had passed through the entire day with Remus-through classes, lunch, studying, and playing Exploding Snap with James and Peter- and Remus had not once exploded on Sirius. He remained aloof and unemotional. Sirius knew that Remus was calm and collected, but he could tell that there was something building up in the boy, much like a dormant volcano. He was waiting for the volcano to blow its top.

As the boys in the dormitory woke up and went through their usual routines- James and Sirius would have some kind of physical fight while Remus and Peter went to the bathroom to brush their teeth, then they would switch and James and Sirius would fight with toothbrushes and toothpaste while Remus and Peter got ready- Sirius' anxiety increased to an almost intolerable level. He felt he could not wait for the explosion much longer.

_Look at him_, Sirius thought at breakfast, while Remus was quietly eating his eggs next to him, _he's a time bomb. He's gonna blow. Why isn't he yelling? _Sirius tried to listen to whatever James and Peter were talking about, but all he could focus on was Remus. Remus- calm, collected, cool-

"JUST EXPLODE ALREADY!" Sirius yelled- it seemed he had cracked. The entire Great Hall was silent, but Sirius didn't seem to register that fact. He was glaring down at Remus- at some point he had leapt out of his seat.

There was a silence, which Remus broke by practically whispering, "what are you talking about, Sirius?"

"YOU KNOW PERFECTLY WELL WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! Ever since, the thing, you've been freakishly quiet. I can tell you're holding something in. So let it out! Yell at me! Hit me! Do whatever you want to me!"

"Sirius, shut up, you don't know what…"

"Yes, I do! Come on, Remus, I'm at your mercy! Do whatever it is you've been dying to do to me all of yesterday! Do it!"

"FINE!" And Remus was out of his seat as well- the entire school had stopped what they were doing to listen in on the action- James had forgotten to put down his glass of pumpkin juice and was now spilling it all over himself-" You want me to do what I've been dying do do? Huh?"

Sirius nodded.

The entire school let out a collective gasp, teachers included, when they saw sweet, quiet, intovertive, shy-to-the-point-of-being-slightly-antisocial Remus Lupin kiss Sirius Black on the lips in front of the entire school.

This gasp was not heard by Messrs. Black and Lupin, however- they did not hear the gasp, the loud "WHAT THE FUCK" from Lily Evans, or the eventual applause and catcalling that their scene had inspired, for they were too immersed in the first real, consensual kiss that they shared.

And it was nothing like Sirius had ever experienced- he felt as if he were being shocked from head to toe- when their tongues finally met, Sirius would have yelled with happiness, had his mouth not been otherwise occupied. When they, finally, broke apart, gasping for breath and beaming at each other, they seemed to realise that the entire school was watching them. Sirius bowed while Remus blushed.

"Come on, dear Moony, we have fifteen minutes until breakfast ends."

Remus raised his eyebrows- Sirius ran from the room, yelling and pumping his fists in the air as if he had just won the Quidditch Cup. Remus turned to his friends, James and Peter, and beamed at them. The beamed back.

"Go get him, kid." James said, spurring Remus into action.

And without a word, Remus bowed extravagently to the crowd, winked at the staff, and sprinted from the Great Hall to join his lover.


End file.
